Thank you for your patience while we navigate this strange new world. I’m sure you will share in our sadness, but expect you will not be surprised to hear that the 2020 London Dance Festival will not happen as planned from June 26-28.

We had hoped to announce some alternative plans for the summer, but unfortunately we must put all activities on hold at this time due to a lack of funding. Once funding is restored we intend to move forward with some great ideas that will allow us to celebrate dance within the current pandemic framework.

If you have submitted an application for the summer festival, we will keep your submission on file and review it once we are able to start making plans again. We will be leaving all application forms open, so if you have an idea for a dance piece you are welcome to share it with us. Our social media channels will be quiet for a while, but we look forward to sharing and connecting with you again soon!

The Dance Mob is a fun and easy dance created by local artists and performed by the community. No dance experience is required and all ages and abilities are welcome. We don’t know when we’ll be able to perform the Dance Mob together this year, but in the meantime you can learn the dance at home and enter our video challenge!

Choreographed by Kaleigh Barry Music: No Enemiesz by Kiesza

WIN with the LDF Dance Mob Video Challenge!Share a short (5-10 second) video of you doing the Dance Mob choreography on Instagram or Facebook for a chance to win a $20 Gift Card from Dancewear Plus and four tickets to the next LDF performance. Post your photo with #LDFDanceMob and #LDFDanceWeek20 and tag your friends! Enter by May 9th. The winner will be chosen at random.

Kaleigh Barry has been dancing for 25 years and grew up training and dancing competitively in Orlando, Florida. After graduating she went on to dance professionally at The Walt Disney World Resort in multiple shows at the Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom she was also featured on ABC’s Christmas Day Parade 2010 and 2011. After dancing at Disney, Kaleigh went on to dance on three ships with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, one of which she was Dance Captain, performing styles such as, jazz, hip hop, ballroom, partnering, ballet, and lyrical, and has toured over 30 countries around the world. Kaleigh has been teaching dance to students ages 3 to adult since 2010 and she specializes is pre-school dance, Jazz, Tap, Lyrical, and Ballet. Her choreography has won numerous technique and choreography awards as well as high overall placements with multiple competitions in the United States and Canada. Kaleigh has recently relocated to the London area with her husband and daughter, and she is looking forward to furthering her dance career as a teacher and choreographer!

Call for Virtual Dance SubmissionsWe’re looking forward to celebrating International Dance Week April 17-26, and we want to see YOU on our virtual stage! We’d like to share our digital platforms to help you promote what you do while celebrating what our dance community has to offer.

Submit your ideas for virtual dance presentations and activities – we’re open to just about anything, but here are some ideas to get you started:

First, let me say that I have been thoroughly amazed by all the dance classes and activities that have appeared online lately. This has proven to the world two things that I have always known to be true: One, that dancers are resilient and will find a way to keep moving 💃 no matter what life throws at them. Two, that our community has so much heart ❤️. My own heart has overflowed seeing the generosity of dancers – and other artists – who are sharing their talents and passion with not only their students, but the entire world. (Seriously, I am getting teary just writing about it! 😭) LDF has been sharing as many of these initiatives as we can on our Facebook page, please feel free to post your offerings on any of our social media channels.

I want to assure you that the CMA and LDF will continue to present dance performances and workshops for London to enjoy, one way or another. I am hopeful that the summer festival will happen June 26-28 as planned, but in all honesty we don’t know how this situation will unfold. We may need to adapt but we promise the show will go on, perhaps with different dates, sizes and shapes of events this year.

This is a stressful time for everyone, and I encourage you to reach out for help when you need it. The CBC has compiled a great list of resources for artists including financial assistance, advocacy, and mental health services that are available for those in need.

This is normally a time of celebration in the dance community, with recitals, competitions, exams and performances, but so many of these events have had to be cancelled or postponed. I know how hard this is, and I applaud you all for doing your part to stay home and keep our country’s most vulnerable populations safe. And to our essential workers who are braving the outside world: thank you for all you do! 👏

While I know you will keep working your bodies, I encourage you to also take time to care for your mental health. It is absolutely reasonable to be grieving the loss of all the normal dance things – and regular life things – that you are missing right now. Stay connected to your dance family through technology, and also take some time to just breathe and process how you are feeling. We will get through this, and on the other side we will have some incredible new stories to tell through dance.

How can we help? I would love to know how our organization can support London’s dance community over the coming weeks and months. I will be scheduling an online meeting in April to chat with stakeholders and find out what you need, so please email to let us know if you would like to join in.

A little rain won’t stop us! Festival performances will happen rain or shine. We have rain plans in place, so come out no matter the weather – but do bring your umbrella just in case! Photos by Mark Spowart

An exciting evening of dance works by emerging artists and special guests from London and beyond. This performance will take place on the beautiful lawns of Eldon House, and is our way of nurturing young choreographers. Bring your own picnic blanket or lawn chair and let’s support our artists!

We are proud to present the 2019 London Dance Festival in both official languages. Our 2019 Dance Mob video tutorial and workshops are available in both English and French. Announcements will be made in both languages at festival performances.